


Along for the Ride

by Sollux_Kleinman



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Amusement Park, Amusement Parks, Animatronics, F/F, Horror, M/M, Psychological Horror, Scary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:01:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23182147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sollux_Kleinman/pseuds/Sollux_Kleinman
Summary: The group decides to go to the amusement park for the day... until it goes horribly wrong.
Relationships: Alana Beck/Zoe Murphy, Evan Hansen/Connor Murphy, Evan Hansen/Jared Kleinman, Evan Hansen/Jared Kleinman/Connor Murphy, Jared Kleinman/Connor Murphy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	1. The Tunnel of Travel

“You know, this is the life!” Jared threw his arms up. “Honestly, I could live here forever.”

“Where would you sleep, the park benches?” Zoe snorted, handing her amusement park ticket to the man as Jared danced inside the park, waiting for the others to finish getting inside the gates.

“It’d be worth the sacrifice.” Jared nodded, giving a fake salute. He had been waiting for forever to get his friends here, and now he never wanted to leave.

“Jesus Jared, calm yourself down.” Connor adjusted his dark sunglasses and threw his hands into his pockets.

“How can he be calm, this is exciting!” Alana came in next, wearing a large sun hat which she fiddled with. 

“Wait for me guys!” Evan was the last to get his ticket scanned. 

“Well hurry it along, Ev, we’re dying to try some of these rides!” Jared practically bounced.

“What do we want to ride first?” Zoe asked, glancing around.

“Oh I made a list of the best rides in the park, according to their reviews!” Alana came up beside Zoe, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket. “It says first we should do the Twister, that’s the big one with a bunch of loops over there-“

Evan has finally gotten his ticket scanned and was sprinting over to the group. As he caught up, Jared flung an arm around the boy.

“-It also says the Tunnel of Travel is a must.”

“Yawn!” Jared declares. “Big ride first, kiddie rides later.”

“I wouldn’t mind a small ride first.” Evan bit his lip.

Connor glanced over at Evan, “Yeah, why don’t we start small and work our way up to the big ones?”

“Sounds good to me.” Zoe agreed.

“Lame.” Jared sighed. 

“Well that means you have something to look forward to later, Jared.” Alana told him cheerfully. “To Tunnel of Travel then?”

Everyone except Jared gave an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

Upon arriving at the ride, the group found there was hardly a line for it.

“That’s weird, the things I’ve been reading online say it’s pretty popular.” Alana commented as the group walked down the winding pathway that should’ve been filled with people.

“It’s cause everyone realized how awful this ride is and they’re out on the Twister.” Jared said under his breath. His comment was quickly met by a smack on the back of the head from Connor.

“Don’t ruin the ride.” Connor grunted before giving Jared a small kiss on the head where he had smacked him.

Evan seemed excited, “So what happens on this ride?” He asked Alana.

“Oh it’s really cool! You get to see different parts of the world!” She told him enthusiastically.

The group was then at the front of the line, no wait time at all. The boy running the ride gestured them forward, where they all got into a boat.

“Please keep your hands inside the boat at all times and, under any circumstances, don’t get out of the boat. Enjoy.” The boy said, pressing the button for the group to go.

The boat lurched on the track, sending small ripples in the water around them, and they moved forward.

“Here we go!” Zoe grinned.

Jared, who was up front, was less than impressed. “There’s not even a strap or buckle on this ride!”

“That’s because there are no big drops.” Alana replied. Jared groaned in response.

The ride tugged them forward, and they were greeted in the first room by a row of animatronic kangaroos. Upon further inspection of the room, they could see it was decorated to be Australia themed. The Sydney opera house decorated one wall, and the Great Barrier Reef the other. 

“Those are kinda creepy.” Connor commented as they passed the kangaroos, and he wasn’t entirely wrong.

Jared could see the animatronics jerky movements. One arm jerked up, and shakily went back down. The kangaroo’s mouth had a wide, unnatural smile that was unwavering. It’s eyes moved side to side, yet still seemed to be following him.

“This is... interesting.” Alana commented.

Luckily, they quickly entered the next room, an arctic themed room. Two polar bears sat at the edge of an iceberg, fishing pole lines dipped into the water. 

As they passed, one of the animatronic polar bears turned to the other and said in his cheery, cartoon voice, “We’re fishing for food!” The other polar bear gave a loud, hiccuping laugh and turned his head to reveal one of his eyes had malfunctioned and was twitching sporadically. Jared flinched as they passed.

“This is not as cool as I expected.” Evan said, curling up to Connor.

“This is fucking horrifying.” Jared said as they rounded the corner to the next room. “What sicko decided this would be a kid ride?”

As they came into view of the new room, most of the group audibly gasped. This room was themed around the southern U.S. and standing in the middle of the platform was an animatronic man wearing blue overalls and a straw hat.

“Hey ya’ll!” He swung his arms up in a way no actual human would. His silicone lips stretched sideways into a false smile, showing yellow teeth. His eyes were glassy, and only one moved, but if followed the path of the boat through the water. “Welcome to the-“

The lights shut out.

At first there was yelling from the group. Jared could feel Evan beside him using both him and Connor as a shield. Behind him he felt Alana reach over and grab Zoe.

Through the yelling, a small light came into as Connor turned on his phone flashlight.

“Everyone okay?” He asked. The group grunted small yeses.

Connor then turned his flashlight over to the animatronic. Jared felt himself pale as he looked over. The animatronic, now without power, was lifeless. It slumped over, still staring with one empty eye at the boat’s inhabitants.

“What’s happening?” Zoe demanded, sounding as panicked as Jared felt.

Jared sputtered, “... We’re trapped on the ride.”


	2. Escape From the Tunnel

“So, now what?” Zoe asked, looking around the dark room.

“We should wait for them to come get us.” Evan said. “They usually make some sort of announcement to tell us to stay put.”

Everyone waited for an announcement, there was none.

“This is dumb.” Jared needed to get out of here, every one of his senses was telling him to run. “Let’s get out.”

“We really shouldn’t-“ Alana tried to argue, but Jared was already standing up in the boat and hopping up onto the ledge where the animatronic stood.

Jared could’ve sworn the animatronic’s eyes moved to follow him. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand him.

Jared looked down at the boat to see the taller one of his boyfriends giving him an exasperated look.

“Jared, get down from there.” Connor sighed.

“I’m not going to wait around in this horror house to be for no one to come get me.” Jared crossed his arms. “Seriously, where are the workers?”

“He’s got a point.” Zoe stood and hopped up to Jared. “There’s no harm in finding our way out.”

Jared made sure Zoe stood between him and the animatronic, he didn’t trust that thing.

Alana, encouraged by her girlfriend’s deviance, got up onto the ledge as well.

“Fine, since everyone else is going.” Connor jumped up to them in one swift move. 

“You coming, Ev?” Jared asked.

Evan bit his lip, “Guys, I really don’t think-“

“Ah okay then, you can just stay here-“

That was all Jared needed to say for Evan to quickly scramble up and join the group.

“So, which way do we go then?” Zoe leaned her head to try to see into the blackness before them.

“Forward, I suppose.” Jared decided, following the path to the next room.

Jared’s phone flashlight illuminated the way as they squeezed into the next room. Slumped over a table were two animatronic panda bears, supposedly they were supposed to be having dinner. 

“Honestly I’m just glad to be away from cowboy Bill back there.” Jared jokes, still keeping his distance from the pandas.

As they entered the next room there was a loud clang of metal behind them.

“What was that?” Evan demanded, gripping onto the back of Jared’s shirt.

“It was probably someone here to help us!” Alana said excitedly. “Hey! Over here!”

They waited for a minute. No other noises.

“It was probably just another part of an animatronic breaking, these things are garbage.” Jared said, chills running up his spine as he continued.

“Maybe don’t call them garbage...” Evan repliesd, staring at an animatronic across the room.

“They’re just machines, Evan, they can’t hurt us.” Connor assured him. Jared swore he heard another sound of metal behind them in the tunnel.

As they reached another room they found an empty boat in the water.

“Where did they go?” Alana asked. “Someone was on this when we started, I watched them board.”

“Maybe they went looking for a way out too?” Zoe suggested.

Connor cupped his hands over his mouth, “Is anyone here?” He shouted, his words echoing off the walls.

There was no reply.

“They were probably rescued because they stayed in their boat.” Evan sighed.

“C’mon people, lets keep moving.” Jared continued.

Finally, they reached the end. The once long line for the ride was non-existent. Even the ride operator was nowhere to be found.

“Well that’s reassuring.” Jared said flatly. “Helloo, we were just trapped on this ride, could someone kindly give us a refund and maybe some free fast passes?” 

“Where is everyone?” Alana touched the panel controlling the ride. All the lights were off on the switch besides one blinking red light.

“They’re probably outside calling the fire department or something.” Connor decided. Jared followed on heel, eager to just see another person. As they reached outside, they both saw something that made them stop in their tracks.

“You see something?” Zoe yelled.

“Guys, you have got to see this.”


	3. The Shed

The sky was dark.

How could it be nighttime?

"So when we arrived it definitely was the day, right?" Connor asked, still staring at the sky. Jared nodded, unable to take his eyes off the moon high in the sky.

"What are you talking about?" Evan called from inside.

"How time is it?" Jared asked.

"Well, we arrived at the park at 9 this morning. It took us like 10 minutes to get to the ride, and we probably were leaving the tunnel for twenty, maybe thirty minutes if we're pushing it. So it's probably around 10ish." Alana decided. "Why?"

Zoe made her way to the door and came out. She stopped in her tracks. "What the hell?"

Evan and Alana quickly followed, both stepping out only to be awed.

"What the hell happened?" Zoe demanded, moving a couple paces away from the group.

"Well, I guess..." Even Alana didn't have an answer for this. "Maybe we hit our heads and passed out?"

"All of us?" Connor questioned, looking around the deserted park. "Come on, let's find a way out."

There was a clang in the darkness.

“Did you hear that?” Jared asked, turning to where the sound came from.

“Come on, let’s just get out of here.” Zoe decided, moving forward. “Alana, where are we headed?”

“Nearest exit is where we came in, about a ten minute walk.” Alana chimed.

As they walked, Jared still get uneasy about this whole situation. How was it possible to enter a building in the morning, then leave an hour later at nighttime?

Just as they rounded the tilt-a-hurl they spotted a maintenance shed, and subsequently, a worker that had just flashed out of sight into the shed.

“A worker!” Evan shouted excitedly. “We can get help!”

“Why don’t we just continue toward the entrance?” Connor asked exasperatedly.

“Well if we get there there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to get out, they probably lock this up at night.” Alana pointed out.

“Yeah, let’s go after him.” Jared agreed, running toward the shed. He was just so excited to escape-

Throwing the door open, Jared was met not with the sanctity of a man with the keys out of this hellhole, but instead the sprawled out form of an animatronic laying on the floor of the shed.

“What the hell?”

The animatronic had be slightly taller than Jared, with the head of a joyfully animated bunny rabbit. It had clearly been decommissioned long ago, as it’s fur that had once covered its parts had been torn and worn thin to where you could now see parts of its skeleton. It’s face, however, still was perfectly intact. It’s face seemed to frown as he opened the shed door wider.

Zoe jogged up behind Jared, “Where is he?” She panted. Jared gestured, disgusted, toward the thing on the floor.

“Why is he not here?” Evan asked as the rest caught up.

Jared looked at the animatronic- no, the creature, on the floor. “We saw this thing come in here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jared.” Alana scoffed. “We obviously didn’t see an animatronic walk in here. Look at this thing, it hasn’t been able to work in years.”

“Well, what did we see?” Evan asked, paling.

“A- A trick of the eye.” Alana decided, sounding unsure.

“Does no one else think what’s been happening is a little bit weird?” Jared demanded. “We get stuck in a tunnel, no one rescues us. We escape, no one is around, it’s suddenly nighttime. Something tells me at this moment we can throw aside logical reasoning.”

There was silence. Finally, Connor took a breath, “Look, I don’t know what the fuck is happening, and I don’t care to. Let’s just get out of here.”

That was something Jared could agree with. The group exited the shed and started on once again. As Jared shut the door to the shed, he thought he could’ve made out a small grin on the ragged animatronic’s face.

They seemed to huddle together for the rest of the trip, each person afraid of being in the back.

Of falling behind.

When they made it to the front gates, Alana’s suspicions had been correct, it had been locked up for the night.

“Alright, we need a plan b.” Connor sighed, turning to the group.

“Let’s find a place to camp out for the night.” Zoe suggested.

“I don’t think I could fall asleep here.” Evan said. “Could any of you?”

“What if we had someone keep watch.” Jared replied, glancing around. “Just to make everyone feel better.” Everyone seemed to like that idea.

“First we’ll need somewhere to stay.” Alana looked thoughtful for a second. “How about the bathrooms? They lock from the inside, it’ll be perfectly safe.”

“That sounds perfect, you lead the way.” Connor agreed.

“Wait.” Zoe stopped them. “Where’s Evan?”


End file.
